Light on their feet

The Josephine Foyer at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum was filled with folk dancers yesterday as about 50 people took part in the first free monthly community dance lesson with University of Otago Caroline Plummer Fellow Michael Parmenter.

Mr Parmenter is in the city for six months and will host the "Josephine Mini Bal" on the last Sunday of each month. He said he aimed to produce a "big mini bal" for the spring equinox in September. A mini bal  was something of a "small ball" for community dancing. A lot of the dancing at the mini bal was simple and did not require years of training, he said. "My project is sort of, in a word, to try and revive social dance," he said.